Grey's Anatomy season 4 finale

I didn't like this season's finale nearly as much as the season one and season two endings (especially season 2, which was amazing). I got a little bored, I swear, with the story lines. I thought it was SO contrived.

Mark standing back and watching Erica and Callie kiss, I mean, please, like he's this benevolent matchmaker - UGH!!! Once I thought about it, I realized that it probably wouldn't strike me as weird if it were a man helping a woman see that she really wanted a different man. I just wondered what the writers were thinking when they were developing this story. Of course I don't object to Callie and Erica getting together, but having the local Lothario (aka "manwhore") be the one that helps them get together just seems weird as hell to me. I just wasn't rooting for Erica and Callie the way I wanted to b/c I was distracted by all this threesome-fantasy-hot sex side story that was going on.

Mer and Der running all over looking for each other at the end was sort of cute, but then he leaves, saying "I have to talk to Rose," though clearly Rose knows he's not really available - it just so felt so fake, like you could hear the writers: "we have to create a cliffhanger!" And when did Mer have time to buy and arrange all those candles? Willing suspension of disbelief is required, I suppose.

And Mer is now completely healed just by talking about her mom's suicide attempt - yeah, right, that's how it works. Even the idea that what Ellis meant (back when Meredith was 5 years old, sitting in a pool of her mom's blood) when she said "Be extraordinary" was "have extraordinary love in your life." Holy cow, it's absurd. When Ellis scolds Meredith in Seasaon 2, saying "you're just ordinary" - it's totally clear that her mother is disappointed that Mer is dabbling in this love affair instead of devoting herself to surgery. But now the writers want to rewrite history and say that what Meredith's cold mother has wanted for her all along is a deep and satifying love. That's why people slit their wrists in front of their own children. The show may have good medical consultants, but they need to get a decent psychology consultant!

And Adele was just waiting for her husband to *demand* to come back - ridiculous. Her objection to her marriage was not her husband's old affair, it was his putting his job above her all the time. He made it clear that he wanted to stay married, but he also made it clear that he wasn't really going to change and she said "forget it!" Now, he still hasn't really changed, he's just faking it, with George's help, but we're supposed to think that NOW she's convinced. One roll in the sack and a couple text messages and she's there. It's insulting to women.

And George is supposedly some amazing doctor, 14 letters of recommendation - it's ridiculous! When the series started he was clearly a bumbling wannabe, what did they call him? More and more evidence that the writers just rewrite history at their convenience. I'm sorry, but I've been watching this show for 4 years, I'm pretty clear about the characters, you can't just tell me that I don't know what I know about them.

On top of all these complaints, I think Lexie is the most boring character ever created for TV. They dabbled in some conflict between her and Meredith, but they never did anything authentic with it. I have half siblings and I can tell you that it's a freaking minefield, especially when parents seem more devoted to one over the other. From the beginning, the writers treated the whole storyline like Meredith was just being petty or immature. They never used the very real tension in that situation to any dramatic effect.

As for the Ava/Rebecca character - she was totally wasted IMO - she had real potential, but "underlying borderline personality disorder" - where did they come up with that? More evidence that they need a good psychologist (not some L.A. hack) to work with the writers.

The only scene I liked at all was Alex crying - it was totally believable (that Justin Chambers is a terrific actor, very under-rated). Everything else felt very TV to me.

It's still a good show, and I still want to know what's going to happen next, so they've still got my interest. But it felt more staged this time, and I didn't feel as invested in the people. But my friend Anne thought it was the best episode ever, so clearly my impressions are not shared by all!